The present invention relates to a floor heating system that heats from beneath a floor. The present invention also relates to a floor heating device that implements this floor heating system. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a member to be used in the floor heating device.
In past floor heating systems, a heated thermal medium fluid is circulated through long, thin seamless pipes disposed beneath a floor. The heat emitted from the thermal medium fluid heated the floor from below. It was also possible to have electricity go through long, thin electric heating wires disposed beneath a floor so that heat from the heating wires would be conducted to the floor.
Of the systems described above, the one involving circulation of the thermal medium fluid operates as follows. First, a circulation path for a thermal medium fluid is disposed beneath a floor, this path comprising seamless pipes made from a material having good heat conductivity, and buried panels for installing these seamless pipes beneath the floor. The thermal medium fluid in the seamless pipes is heated with a boiler disposed outside of the circulation path. A pump that provides circulation of the thermal medium fluid is disposed in the circulation path. In the system involving electric heating wires, continuous electric heating wires covered by insulation are disposed, and a concrete floor surface serves to fix the positions of the heating wires.
In the floor heating system involving the circulation of a thermal medium fluid, the temperature of the heated thermal medium fluid gradually decreases. Thus, the floor area above the first half of the circulation path (the region near the boiler) is heated to a high temperature. However, the floor area above the latter half of the circulation path (the region away from the boiler) is not heated as much. Thus, it is not possible to achieve adequate warming of the floor. In order to allow the heat from the thermal medium fluid to be discharged over the entire floor, arcs and bends can be made in the seamless pipes so that they form a wave shape. This makes the installation of seamless pipes time consuming.
In the floor heating system involving electric heating wires, the temperature of the heating wires does not rise very quickly. Thus, it is difficult to heat an area to a desired temperature. Also, obtaining enough heat from the heating wires to adequately heat an area consumes a large amount of electricity, resulting in very high running costs.
In the floor heating system involving the circulation of a thermal medium fluid, a pump is used to forcibly circulate the thermal medium fluid within the seamless pipes. This creates a burden on the boiler if the circulation path is long or if the thermal medium fluid is viscous. Thus, maintenance needs to be performed frequently on the boiler, and this could be expensive. The boiler is used to heat the thermal medium fluid generally by heating all the thermal medium fluid accumulated within the boiler. Thus, heating is also performed on thermal medium fluid that does not circulate, resulting in a lot of superfluous heating. The heat energy used in this heating is lost, as is heat generated by the thermal medium fluid as it goes from the boiler to the circulation path. These kinds of energy losses are not consistent with the current public concern for energy conservation.
In heating systems using electric heating wires, it is necessary to install heating wires in prescribed positions and then fix them with concrete. This can be done only in cases where concrete can be used in the floor. The process requires extensive construction work, which could be difficult in many homes.